


Unexpected Deviations

by Regann



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, M/M, POV Outsider, Pre-Slash, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:31:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6106462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regann/pseuds/Regann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rip Hunter wants to preserve the timelines of heroes such as The Flash, but he comes to realize that his actions result in one major deviation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Deviations

**Author's Note:**

> This scene was originally conceived as part of my 5+1 Coldflash fic but I felt like it didn't quite fit the tone. Then, after last week's episode of Legends of Tomorrow, I wanted Rip to acknowledge the beginning of a kinder, gentler Leonard Snart so I tweaked it a little. I hope y'all enjoy. :)

Rip Hunter had done a careful job of picking his team for his assault on Vandal Savage. He had pored over the options, looking for the perfect combination of skills and anonymity to achieve his goal. He needed capable people who could face supernatural threats like Savage but he didn’t need anyone whose fate could disrupt the timeline. That was why his “Legends” had the roster it did.

Still, Rip Hunter liked to cover all his bases and he wanted to defeat Savage with as little damage to the timeline as possible. Despite his split with the Time Masters, he still believed in the idea that the timeline needed to preserved where it could. 

That was why Rip occasionally took time to check on the future, looking through the various timelines of important people to make sure that there were no ripples via the lives of his team to affect the larger fabric of time. 

He sat in his cozy study while Gideon’s serene features looked down on him. He had already checked on Oliver Queen’s future and it remained intact. Now onto the second hero.

“Gideon,” he said. “Please check the current trajectory of history for Barry Allen, The Flash, against the most recent saved timeline.”

“Checking,” Gideon said. “One deviation noted.”

Rip wasn’t concerned. One deviation was not unusual, especially given the number of people in his team who could affect the Flash. It was probably something as small as a changed date for a minor event in Allen’s life. “Details,” he asked.

Gideon showed him a newspaper article dated for 2021 from the _Central City Picture News_. The image that accompanied it was of Barry Allen and a lovely dark-skinned woman that Rip knew from his history was his wife, Iris West-Allen. They were both smiling; it was certainly a lovely picture. “What about it?” he asked the computer.

“The new timeline shows no mention of this life event for Barry Allen,” Gideon explained.

Rip’s brow furrowed. Erasing the Flash’s marriage seemed to be a strange deviation in the timeline, unless… “Does Iris West die before 2021 in the new timeline?”

“Negative,” Gideon answered. “Iris West’s date of death only deviates by 1.34 years between timelines.”

Rip’s frown deepened. That had been the most obvious answer -- that something he did caused her to die at an earlier time. But it wasn’t the actual answer, it seemed. “Any more information on this deviation?”

“Negative,” Gideon answered again. “No other significant deviation noted.”

Rip stood up and began to pace the room, trying to think of what the cause could be. It wasn’t something big enough in the scheme of things that he would stop what he was doing -- it would’ve been different, for example, if the Flash’s lack of marriage had caused him to not help form the Justice League. But it hadn’t.

Still, it had to have something to do with Rip’s fight against Savage. And he wanted to know, if only to sate his curiosity. 

“Gideon, check Martin Stein’s timeline.”

“No deviation noted.”

“Check Jefferson Jackson.”

“No deviation noted.”

“Check Sara Lance.”

“No deviation noted.”

“Check Ray Palmer.”

“No deviation noted.”

Rip frowned. That only left… “Leonard Snart?”

“Significant deviations noted,” Gideon answered and Rip felt his surprise hit him in the gut.

“List deviations,” he snapped.

When he had first decided to recruit Captain Cold, Rip had already familiarized himself with the man’s history, sad as it was. At the age of 55, Snart had died in a prison riot, while he had been serving a life sentence for his father’s murder. Some accounts had even said that he died trying to help the guards. Aside from that one crime of passion, Snart’s history had been one of cold, methodical precision, making him a worthwhile asset to the team. 

But now…

The new timeline showed that Leonard Snart lived to be in his 80s. There were a few scattered mentions of “Captain Cold” over the next decade, usually pitching in during massive crises in his home city, but then those faded away as the years progressed. Whatever he had done in the timeline where he didn’t die in prison, Snart hadn’t made the papers doing it. 

“Any overlap between Snart’s new timeline and Allen’s?” Rip wanted to know.

After a few seconds of computing, Gideon spoke again. “Place of residence: Central City.”

Rip sighed, running a hand through his hair. It was a frustrating puzzle that he wanted to solve; otherwise, it would worry at him. He pondered what other information he could search for to see what the connection was.

“Broaden the search outside of public news sources,” he ordered. “Check for any combination of Barry Allen, The Flash, Leonard Snart, Captain Cold.”

“Result one: sealed court documents of Leonard Snart’s pardon,” Gideon’s voice told him. “Barry Allen, Central City CSI, listed as witness. Amicus brief filed by attorney on behalf of “The Flash.”

Rip nodded to himself. That made sense. If Snart lived through the battle with Savage, of course the Flash would advocate for the man to have a second chance. It still didn’t explain, though, what relationship that might have on Allen marrying Iris West.

“Next result.”

“Result two: Marriage license for Cisco Ramon and Lisa Snart, filed in Central City. Witnesses: Barry Allen, Leonard Snart, Caitlin Snow.”

Rip raised an eyebrow. That was interesting but still didn’t explain the deviation in Allen’s timeline. Snart’s sister-in-crime marrying Allen’s tech genius partner was simply a footnote in the men’s history.

Just then, Rip looked up and noticed that Snart himself was standing on the bridge talking to Ray Palmer. More correctly, Palmer was talking and Snart was rolling his eyes, looking bored, but he was still within the area. Rip didn’t think about it before he stepped out of his study. “Snart,” he called out.

Snart looked up. “Hunter.”

“Can I speak with you?”

Snart gave him an unimpressed look before he shrugged, walking away from Palmer with nary a word of parting. 

Snart looked around the study as he entered, although he chose to stand. “Go ahead,” he said. “I’m listening.”

Rip reminded himself that he didn’t bring Snart on board because he was polite. “I understand you’ve had encounters with the Flash.”

“Hardly a secret,” Snart said.

“How well do you know him?” Rip asked.

Snart’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a strange question to ask a criminal.”

“But you’re more than a criminal these days.”

“Says who?” asked Snart with a snort. Rip gave him a look and Snart’s attitude relented. “We’ve had a few encounters.” He smirked. “I know what he looks like beneath that mask.”

“Really? You know his identity?” 

Snart grinned, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the desk. “Barry Allen, currently 26 years old in my time, CSI for Central City.”

Rip was impressed. “But he hasn’t been exposed yet, not in your time.”

“Sometimes I’m a man of my word,” Snart said. “Barry and I have an...agreement.”

“Hmm.”

“Why all the questions?” Snart wanted to know. “It’s not like you’re one for idle chats.”

“Everything we do here has the ability to change timelines, no matter how careful we are.” He didn’t reiterate how reckless they had been so far. “So I evaluate them from time to time.”

“And you’ve noticed some in Barry’s,” Snart guessed. He frowned. “Are you telling me we’ve done something that’s put his timeline in danger?”

Rip noticed how genuinely concerned Snart sounded. It reminded him of how he’d reacted to Rory being in danger. “Changes aren’t necessarily ‘danger.’ This change is only in his personal life. The larger events are intact.”

He watched as Snart visibly relaxed. “You seemed concerned,” he pointed out.

“I didn’t agree to save the future to see bad things happen to good people,” Snart told him. “Not those here and not others who matter.”

Rip felt a smug smile on his face but he didn’t care. “And you say you’re not a hero.”

“I’m not,” Snart snapped. “But I protect my own.”

“Barry Allen falls into that category?” Rip asked.

Snart gave him a dark look but ignored the question. “Are we done?”

He could tell that Snart was annoyed by his own slip-up with the admission that he cared what happened to the Flash. Rip knew he wouldn’t get any more important information out of him. “Yes, we’re done,” he said. “I’ll let you know if there’s any actual danger to Flash’s timeline.”

Snart shot him a grimace disguised as a smile before he stomped away. Rip watched him leave the bridge area before he shifted his attention back to Gideon who was still waiting patiently with the rest of the search results. 

“Next result, Gideon,” he said, settling in his chair.

“Result three,” Gideon began. “Marriage license for Barry Allen and Leonard Snart, filed in Central City. Witnesses: Joe West, Lisa Sn....”

“Pause!” Rip barked as he tried to processed what he had just learned. The Flash and Leonard Snart? It was almost unimaginable, except that he knew he could trust Gideon’s findings -- no wonder she had reported multiple deviations in Snart’s timeline. And Rip knew that any changes could only be the result of his choice of Snart for his team. Otherwise he would’ve died in prison and never had a chance to end up married to Central City’s favorite hero. 

He thought about the happy young couple he had seen in the newspaper announcement and wondered what he had done to them both. He didn’t know who, if anyone, Iris West married but he knew that he had put Barry Allen on a path that would end with him settling down with a known criminal.

Or, more correctly, he had put Snart on a path that would end with him settling down with one of the most important superheroes of his time.

Rip could only shake his head when he thought about it but he had at least answered his first inquiry. And since marriage to Snart didn’t stop Allen from doing what the Flash needed to do, Rip couldn’t consider it a deviation worth derailing his mission. Vandal Savage needed to be stopped.

Still, Rip decided as he told Gideon to save the current timeline for future comparison, he would keep his eye on Snart. It would be interesting to see the changes as they happened.

Rip thought back with a little smile. He was pretty sure he’d already seen some of the changes. After all, Snart already thought of Allen as one of his own. Maybe they were already in the middle of it.

Work done and minor mystery solved, Rip called it a night.


End file.
